“The one-page cartoons illustrating Trondheim’s everyday observations and encounters are really delightful – witty, astute, low-key, sweet, and polished, but never fussy. He doesn’t seem to be in love with the sound of his own voice, and he doesn’t abandon his instincts as a storyteller because the content is casual and unstructured. It’s just so perfectly in scale, and the ultimate effect is one of effortlessness.”

Chris Butcher is understandably pleased that a third volume is on the way and points to the announcement at NBM’s blog. I’m a little surprised; NBM usually drops a really good book during the last week of December to mess up everyone’s hastily posted “Best of…” lists, but it looks like they’re getting a jump on 2010’s editions instead.

“E” is also clearly for “exigent circumstances,” as there just aren’t a lot of strictly shôjo-sunjeong titles that start with this letter that I really like. And yes, I know that two of these titles are technically seinen, though I don’t think anyone at CMX would mind if you decided that Emma was shôjo. And while ES is also seinen, Fuyumi Soryo is also a highly regarded shôjo creator.

All that said, what are some of your favorite shôjo and sunjeong titles that start with the letter “E”?